RBI shareholders want clarity about the future of business in Russia

The dispute between the state banks as major shareholders of RBI about the future of the Russian business is unsettling the free float and endangering a price recovery, the IVA announced on Tuesday. Clear announcements are expected at the shareholders’ meeting on Thursday. “The RBI board can make the Russia strategy clear at the general meeting: either ‘exit’ from Russia with conditions acceptable to the shareholders or ‘remain and explain’,” said association board member Florian Beckermann. “The silence of the management puts the bank in an increasingly reputation-damaging corner.” Should there be an exit from Russia, an extraordinary general meeting would make sense in the interests of all shareholders, said Beckermann.

For more than a year, RBI has been examining all strategic options for the future of the subsidiary bank in Moscow, including an orderly exit. The bank is therefore increasingly under pressure from the European Central Bank (ECB).

In addition, the IVA criticizes the postponement of the dividend decision. The resolution had already been postponed last year and the dividend ultimately failed, according to the IVA. The association fears a similar development for this year. The bank’s strong results, even without Russia, would justify a dividend, the IVA said.